March 22, 2009

Cutting police budget would betray trust

Dear City Council,

How could you cut the Kansas City Police Department budget by $12 million, despite the public outcry for public safety? The contention that the cut is $6 million with $6 million in grants is nothing but spin.

Police Chief Jim Corwin’s contention that officers will be pulled from the streets is not just spin. Civilians perform vital functions at the Police Department. Corwin will need to backfill those now-vacant positions with the only staff he will have left — officers. The Department was asked, by city management, to “civilianize” its staff, and now you are criticizing Corwin for that.

The various Council propositions, stated as mandates, about the Department budget details are more spin, just politics. The city funds the Police Department (the Department brings in a ton of revenue for you — a small detail you have chosen to ignore). The Department decides how to allocate those funds; the city does not.

So at least be honest: You are cutting the Police Department by $12 million. I think you can take Corwin at his word that fewer officers will be on the streets. The council has betrayed the public trust. And that’s what it will be remembered for.

Comments

Fuck the police is what i say and everyone i know around me! I have never met a good cop in my life. My boyfriend got put into max. sercurity for having high class marijuana! FUCK YOU Johnson County! You guys are a bunch of pussies who are trigger happy and blame your killings on other people so it looks as if you are the hero. WELL actually you arent! there was a shooting in wyandotte and the police arrested a random person walking on the sidewalk and put him in handcuffs and the guy tried getting away and the police shot the guy 3 times and killed him when they could have easily just grabbed him by the cuffs and shoved him in the squad car, but no the dumbass popo wanted to fuckin kill them! wow way to go! and you want to know how i know this is true?! Because i was with a guy who got a call right after it happend, before it was even on the news before anyone fucking found out! i knew the guys name where it was everything before it was in the news! Fuck the police! And another thing fuck all the police for pulling people over for stupid ass shit such as a break lights out or not comiong to a complete stop or improper lane change! I HAVE SEEN PLENTY OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS DO THIS SHIT AND NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!! FUCK YOU! for the rest of my life fuck your dumb asses! 18 years and never met a good cop! way to go shit heads! your guys are a real hero...not!

When I was a volinteer fire fighter we had this old timer that was telling us stors when our department (which now is one of the largest outside of KC) was just starting out. It was of courase called CFS, or Community Fire Service. It had one pumper, a pump trailer, and a tanker (converted sewer truck).

The way that they got money was by having residents pay for decals that they would place in their windows and if their property caught on fire then the CFS would show up and if there was no life endanger than the CFS would just shut down the pumps and watch the fire. Of course if there was someone in danger they would do what they could to rescue.

One night a barn full of hay got struck by lighting. The farmer did not pay for protection that year, and the fire truck showed up but of course did not do anything. The farmer, bein pissed, wanted to know why. Once everything was explained he wrote an angry letter to the editor. The next day people were lined up to get decals.

I know you may have wasted 2 minutes reading this letter, but as I said what Whispering said brought back a funny memory for me.

P.S. The firetruck could not even do anything if he had paid.... it was a farm field during a rain storm, no way the truck could get that close.

Proper police enforcement staff levels is tough to balance. We need enough to protect us, but everything I hear of a prostitution entrapment bust, I have to conclude that they have idle time....thus we dont need thier labor expense.

If they cut the budget then we will be forced to defend our selves on these mean streets. More guns bought more guns stolen and more guns back on the streets. Hey then the city will cut off the water supply because we have to fight our own fires; I guess the excuse will be we are using too much water.

If your house is on fire, no amount of cash is too much to pay to extinguish the flames.

Let's go for $10000/fire call. $15000 if you want us to go in and save the family dog. We'll get rich.

Better yet, if the newly privatized fire department kept an arsonist on staff, there'd be no more slack periods where the rest of the staff sat around the firehouse idled and unprofitable. When business gets slow, the firebug steps out with his can of gasoline and matches. Boom!! Instant profits!!

Currently Kansas City all ready charges for false alarms. Other local governments are considering giving their citizens the option of additional monthly property charges or a $350.00 per use of their fire department/EMT service. That’s over and above the taxes all ready collected for such services.

The only thing missing is whispering’s upside: opting out for a better value private firm.

The logic in these letters, if it can be called that, is hard to follow. for instance "Uncompensated care, that is, care given in emergency rooms to people without insurance, costs billions of dollars annually". Would this care cost any less if the government were paying for it? My guess it that it would cost more.